Jakarta – Indonesia's finance minister on Monday warned the 2001 budget deficit could be wider than expected, hit by a weak rupiah, high interest rates and low oil prices.

"The finance ministry is currently reviewing fiscal developments, because ... our deficit could be wider," Prijadi Praptosuhardjo told reporters. "It depends on the value of the dollar and interest rates."

He also said oil prices, now tipped to fall below the budget's assumption of an average $$24 a barrel, would have an impact. In its 2001 (Jan-Dec) budget, the government forecast the deficit at 52.5 trillion rupiah ($5 billion), or 3.7 percent of gross domestic product, compared with 444.1 trillion (4.8 percent of GDP) in the truncated 2000 fiscal year (April-Dec).

The 2000 fiscal year was shortened to bring the financial and calendar years into alignment from 2001.

[On the same day Reuters reported that year-on-year inflation in 2001 could exceed the 7.2 percent forecast in the budget, an official from the government's statistics bureau told reporters. He was speaking after the bureau announced year-on-year inflation in March was 10.62 percent, up from 9.14 percent a month early, and month-on-month inflation 0.89 percent, up from 0.87 - James Balowski.]